Bibliography
| Title: Notion of Gentile Impurity in Ancient Judaism Secondary Title: AJS Review Volume: 20 Pages: 285-312 Type: Journal Article Year: 1995 Abstract: Stemberger, Günther JSJ 28.2 (1997), 210: "According to biblical and early Jewish texts, Gentiles are not subject to ritual impurity which is clearly to be distinguished from moral impurity. The earliest texts which may, but do not necessarily imply such a notion, are Josephus, Jewish War 2:150, about the Essenes and Acts 10:28. Even in the Mischnah, only one unambiguous ruling about Gentile impurity is to be found [mToh 7,6]; rabbinic texts insist that Gentile impurity has been decreed by the Rabbis, motivated by separatist tendencies. "Gentile ritual impurity indeed emerged in the first century, and only gradually took root until its authoritative formulation in the Tosefta and Talmudin" [p. 312]. It is hard to tell what effect such decrees could have on Jewish-Gentile interactions in a period when the Temple no longer existed". Keywords: Cultural and Religious History of Ancient Judaism |